ARTICLE TOOLS

Many of the most important problems that this nation will encounter in future will have large components of science and technology. As demonstrated by the energy crisis, the government's ability to foresee and avoid such problems is limited. The federal government lacks an effective focus for science and technology.

The departure of Edward David as the President's science adviser and the dismantling of the Office of Science and Technology early last year came at a moment when it was obvious that we were headed into an energy crisis. Yet in the months prior to the October Arab-Israeli war the government dawdled with no sense of urgency in developing alternatives to foreign oil.